Momma

Picture the scene. You’re driving down the motorway with your friends. It’s a hot summers day. You have the windows rolled down (and the roof if you have a convertible car), and the music is blasting. What would be your summer soundtrack? Would it be early 00s emo greatest hits? The newest alternative indie band? Or would it be something right in the middle? If the answer is the latter, then MOMMA might be for you. The indie rock band from California have released two albums already: 2018’s Interloper, and 2020’s Two Of Me, both quite sensibly during the summer, and now they return with a third, entitled Household Name.

Momma have come a long way, both literally and figuratively. Opening 2020 as a duo in Los Angeles, they closed 2021 as a Brooklyn based phenomenon, a string of urgent indie rock singles cementing their position as one of North America’s most-tipped quantities. Raw and ragged but blessed with an innate thirst for melody, new album ‘Household Name’ marks the completion of one journey and the beginning of another, a series of snappy vignettes that speak of youth, close creative bonds, and mutually shared ambitions.

Weingarten and Friedman repeat the same sentiment on “Rockstar,” which functions as something of a thematic guidepost for Household Name, singing “It takes a lot to admit it/ Yeah I got what they want, I’m a real rockstar.” There is a supreme sense of confidence in their reflections about their place in the music landscape — they aren’t famous yet, but they will be, they have the magic, the “it” factor, and so forth.

Momma are a band who know what they want, and on their third record ‘Household Name’, they take an almighty swing at trying to get it.

The Brooklyn duo’s cheeky spin on Gen-X slacker rock asks: What does it take to become a 1990s alt-rock star right this minute?

"The five best choruses you’ll hear this year are probably all on Momma’s Household Name..." – MTV News

Momma, the Brooklyn-based band led by Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman, released their standout new album Household Name on July 1st via Polyvinyl Record Co. / Lucky Number Music. The new LP has seen Momma emerge as one of the most exciting new bands in rock, with career-high praise from Consequence (Artist of the Month profile, Track by Track feature, and review), NPR Music (All Songs Considered), Pitchfork (Album of the Day review), SPIN (feature, Best Songs of 2022), MTV News (feature), FLOOD (‘Breaking: Momma Are Manifesting Rock-Stardom on Household Name’), NYLON (‘Momma is Indie Rock’s Next Big Thing’, Best Songs of 2022), Stereogum (feature), Thrillist (‘Brooklyn Indie Rock Duo Momma Are Going to Be Rock Stars’), Monster Children (feature), Paste (‘Momma Prove to Be the Rock Stars This Generation Needs on Household Name,' Best Songs of 2022), The Alternative (feature), The FADER, CLASH, Alternative Press, and many others.  

After supporting Wet Leg on sold-out West Coast shows, Momma will next support Snail Mail on their upcoming U.S. summer tour beginning August 12th. The band’s own headlining U.S. tour begins September 12th and will see them playing their biggest venues to date, including Los Angeles’ The Echo on September 24th and Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 8th. A full itinerary can be found HERE. Momma are also set to host an AMA at r/indieheads on July 26th, where the band will be taking questions from fans starting at 12pm Eastern. 

Produced by Momma’s Aron Kobayashi Ritch and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Emily Lazar (The Killers, Maggie Rogers), Household Name is the quickly rising group’s first full-band collaboration recorded in a proper studio that sees them skillfully carve out their own path in today's world of alt rock. Balancing heavy riffs, deep emotions, inviting sonic production, and a lighthearted, wry sense of humor, Household Name is a record that tells the world: This is Momma.

More Praise for Household Name:

“Should Momma indeed become household names, it’s the hooks that will get them there" – Pitchfork (Album of the Day review)

"Fiercely ambitious grunge duo aim for the stars... a whirlwind of huge riffs and slick ‘90s revivalism." - NME, 4/5 stars

“Household Name is, altogether, an ineffably charming release bringing a youthful modernity to old school sounds.” - Kerrang!, 4/5 stars

“Momma are sounding increasingly impressive” - GigWise, 8/10 stars

“Sometimes, it can take an album or two for young indie artists to really settle in and make use of their newfound resources, but thanks to Ritch’s deft production touch and Weingarten and Friedman’s songwriting acumen, Momma sounds unambiguously ready for primetime.” - NYLON

"...balances intimacy with the thrill of going out in a blaze of glory." - The Guardian (on "Motorbike")

“Momma are aspiring to real-deal rock stardom on their new album Household Name. And with songs this appealing, they just might get it.” - Stereogum

"...huge, fuzzy soundscapes that retain a comforting warmth. It’s heavy, but not overbearing, massive, but clear and dynamic. It sounds incredible." - Consequence

“​​…a joyous selection, a record that melds together its alt-rock influences to locate a distinctive voice, pitting intricate instrumentation against some killer pop hooks. Looks like we may just have found our summer soundtrack.” – CLASH

“...unabashed authenticity is rife throughout Household Name” - Paste

“...blend[s] a confident swagger with an earnest playfulness” - FLOOD

"...their jam-out-worthy tunes will likely become an on-repeat, summertime album for indie fans. Its massive sound and the band's unabashed ambition to just go for it with this release, though, feels like the catalyst that could make their starry-eyed rock dreams feel not so far off." - Thrillist

“Momma know how big they could be, and sound ready for it” - Loud & Quiet

“...conjures a beguiling, refreshing sound somewhat akin to Hayley Williams fronting Pinback with distortion pedals.” - SPIN

"...the levity and cheekiness of a group like Wet Leg, but with the static grit of a band such as Horsegirl." - The AV Club

"The album exudes a self-assuredness that it takes most bands full careers to tap into, a swagger and a buoyancy that are absolutely infectious. Momma are real rockstars." - The Alternative